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from Part Five - Jewish Society
THE Jews in the Crown of Aragon did not live completely isolated from their non-Jewish neighbours. Quite the contrary: Jewish society in north-eastern Spain was far more open to external influence than many other Jewish communities. The behaviour of some Jews was influenced in varying degrees by the conduct of Christians in the streets of Catalonia, Aragon, and Valencia. In the streets of Barcelona, Majorca, or Perpignan at the end of the thirteenth century and the beginning of the fourteenth violence was widespread. The quick development of the Catalan cities brought with it social instability and unrest.
Gambling and blasphemy were quite frequent in Christian society. Sexual crime and secret marriages spread among all classes, and the number of illegitimate children grew considerably. In 1251 Innocent IV had to cancel the punishments imposed by his representative on churchmen who had mistresses due to the great number of transgressors involved. In 1359, the Bishop of Tortosa forbade the appointment of young men to ecclesiastical posts held by their natural fathers. Quarrels, blasphemies, crime, and violence, however, existed side by side with charitable deeds, religious fervour, and social reform. Contrary to R. Yosef Qimhi's assertions in his polemical work, the Jews were not all innocent angels surrounded by Christian iniquity.
THEFT
In the latter part of the thirteenth century, the punishment for theft imposed by the authorities in the Crown of Aragon ceased to deter potential thieves in some localities. Drastic measures were adopted by several communities to combat the growing number of Jewish thieves. Jewish thieves did not discriminate between Jewish, Muslim, and Christian victims. A Jew from Alcira was caught and fined in 1376/7 for attempting to steal from a Christian's garden. Exorbitant fines were not always sufficient to deter Jewish thieves. In 1314 Yucef Moreno ofHuesca was fined 1,000 sj after he was tortured for stealing from a Muslim dyer. It is worth noting that there was occasional cooperation between Jewish and Christian thieves.
On the whole, suspects were arrested as soon as legal proceedings were opened. Intervention on behalf of an accused man by members of the royal family indicates his social status.
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